Then, with a thought, the broom on Ji Xinghe's back appeared beneath her.
She swung both legs over it, gripped the handle tightly with one hand, and tried to control its flight.
The next moment, Ji Xinghe rose into the air along with the Flying Broom.
She wobbled as she flew upward.
Down below, Xiao Xi tilted her head in confusion, the two tender leaves on her Vine leaning toward the lower left.
Ji Xinghe's heart pounded as she sat on the Flying Broom. She'd ridden more thrilling roller coasters, but none had made her as excited as she was now.
Could she fly?
She could fly!
The wobbling Flying Broom gradually steadied. This flying tool was fairly easy to control.
Once she'd mastered the basics of flying, Ji Xinghe looked down at the ruins and sighed with emotion.
Then she slowly descended.
It was enough to know how to use it.
The Flying Broom had only a little over three minutes of flight time left, and she needed to save it for emergencies.
Back on the ground, Ji Xinghe took out the wooden box she'd just found in the ruins.
She wiped the dust off the brown wooden lid and gently pushed it open.
Inside were a battered notebook, a blue-purple fragment, a Purple Crystal Coin, and an even smaller wooden box.
[You found an important clue on Orchard Island. Exploration progress +20%. Current exploration progress: 53%.]
The next moment, the system's mechanical voice sounded beside Ji Xinghe's ear again.
[Player 001 has triggered a commissioned quest: Help Ms. Zeng successfully deliver the small wooden box to her friend "Ling."
(When the quest target appears near the player, the wooden box will begin to glow automatically.)]
[Quest duration: Unlimited]
[Quest rewards: Lost Star Sea Secret Realm Fragment ×1, Purple Crystal Coin ×1 (already issued).]
[Note: Because the seal is unstable, the ＊＊ inside the small wooden box will emit an aura once every hour, attracting dark and mutated creatures.
Solution: Make a box out of Dark Spirit Wood to reseal it. (Click to view the Dark Spirit Wood route map.)]
[Player 001, do you accept the quest? Yes/yes?]
Ji Xinghe furrowed her brows, speechless... The system hadn't even given her a chance to refuse, had it?
She didn't like being forced to carry out quests, but what was done was done. All she could do was prepare for battle in advance.
"An aura once every hour..."
Ji Xinghe had no idea how long it had been since the wooden box last emitted its aura.
She threw four pieces of Deformed Meat into the Trash Bin, then closed the wooden box and put it in her backpack with the other three items.
Then she stopped Xiao Xi's Vine, which was still rummaging through the stones.
Looking at Xiao Xi's dusty gray Vine, she said softly, "Stop moving things for now. Save your strength for the fight."
Xiao Xi's Vine straightened with a rustle, unable to hide her delight. "Okay!"
The Vine brushed the dust off Ji Xinghe and herself, then climbed onto her shoulder and swayed from side to side, as if imitating Ji Xinghe and keeping watch in every direction.
There was no time to inspect the items in her backpack. Ji Xinghe needed to find Dark Spirit Wood first. If monsters attacked once every hour, she couldn't handle them in her current state.
She tapped the route map on the panel, and a moment later, a Red Route appeared before her eyes.
She looked up and followed the Red Route with her gaze. Its endpoint seemed to lie in the Deep Gray Mist on the northern side of the map.
Ji Xinghe stood still. Before she could make a decision, the sound of collapsing stones and strange snarls suddenly rang out around her.
She turned her gaze. Beneath the ruins, countless half-mutated monsters, wreathed in red-gray fumes, crawled out from under the stones.
Some were bloody claws, some were snarling heads, and others were blood-soaked white bones...
The Deformed Monsters all looked different, but they had one thing in common: they overturned the stones covering them and crawled up from underground.
Even those missing a leg or a head still staggered toward Ji Xinghe like walking corpses.
Their eyes were hollow, as if they had no souls at all. The only thing left in their minds was a fixed command: kill the human glowing with white light before them.
The Deformed Monsters surged forward one after another. Within seconds, the space around Ji Xinghe grew smaller and smaller.
The stench of earth mingled with the foul reek of rotting blood. Ji Xinghe frowned, fought back the urge to vomit, and pulled out the Star Feather Repeating Crossbow to fire.
She needed to shoot her way out.
Xiao Xi also swung her Vines wildly beside her, using her frail body to hold back the advancing Deformed Monsters.
The swarming Deformed Monsters formed a circle around them. Ji Xinghe's arm was numb from firing, yet more Deformed Monsters kept emerging from the ruins...
The red-gray fumes around them grew so thick that she could barely see the way ahead. Ji Xinghe hurriedly grabbed Xiao Xi and climbed onto the Flying Broom.
She steered the Flying Broom upward, shooting down the mutated birds in the air as she headed along the Red Route.
In this situation, she had no choice.
The only way to break through was to find Dark Spirit Wood.
Ji Xinghe glanced down. Countless Deformed Monsters were still pouring out below.
They were packed together like concertgoers in a crowd, and several stampedes had already occurred. The weaker monsters, missing limbs, were trampled to death by their own companions before they could even fight.
Wherever Ji Xinghe flew, they followed. Fortunately, the Flying Broom was fast, reaching a maximum speed of around 250 kilometers per hour.
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